“Seems only fair since I got the best player out here.” Nathan hugs me from behind and kisses the top of my head. Without my teammates, I don’t feel the need to pretend to be anything we’re not so every touch and glance between us makes my heart flutter.

Camila makes a retching sound. “Ugh, you two are going to make my lunch come up.”

She and Jill take their positions on the other side of the net, and Nathan reluctantly lets me go. Or at least that’s what I’d like to think since he inches away slowly, not dropping his fingertips from me until he can’t reach.

Jill serves to my right, and I lunge to save it. Nathan takes his time setting it and I spike it over right between Cam and Jill.

We take the point and I move to serve. It’s my favorite part of volleyball, I think because it’s one thing I can control. Once a serve is over the net, it’s all reactionary. Sharp senses and repetition training until the movements happen almost on instinct are key. But serving is all about power and control.

Nathan is a natural and his height is a definite help. We win the first game, and he lifts me up to celebrate. I’m screaming, babbling nonsense mostly, as he runs a lap around the beach. When he can’t carry me any longer, he sets me down and falls to the ground beside me. I lay back, letting the sun kiss my skin, and Nathan’s eyes scan the full length of me.

He takes me by surprise when he covers my body with his and kisses me on the mouth. It’s just a quick, chaste kiss, but I wrap my arms around his neck and demand more.

It’s not until I hear Camila and Jill drop down close to us and he pulls back that I realize him devouring me was for show. At least I think it was. He’s sporting that smirk that does me in every single time, and his eyes are a dark blue that makes me wonder if he’s as keyed up as I am.

I know this is fake, but my libido doesn’t and even if she did, I think she’d tell me to pipe the fuck down and let her have her moment.

“You guys want to go back and get showered and changed for tonight?” Camila asks when Nathan has removed his fabulous body from mine and sits in the sand in front of me.

Nathan looks at me as he answers and his deep voice rakes over me. “Yeah, let’s shower.”

When we get inside our room for the weekend—my old room—I glance at all our stuff tossed around and the mess makes me smile. Sharing space with him makes me insanely happy.